ADD_THIS

Monday, July 9, 2012

Ever Discouraged?

Are you ever discouraged? Disappointed? Tempted to ask, "Why me?". I can hear you answering in the affirmative--yes! Do you ever complain about things that happen to you? Again, I hear you--yes! It's difficult to work through things in our lives when it appears those around us are having it much easier. I say appears because we can never truly know about others' lives unless we've "walked in their shoes."

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."--Plato

I'd like to give you some inspiration to help you get out of the discouraged and disappointed dump you may find yourself in. I'm subscribed to several blogs by writers I've never met but whose books I've read or whose blog subjects are important to me. Sometimes I get behind in my reading and finally I have to skim over the subject line of the blogs and decide which ones I really want to spend time reading.

Janet Perez Eckles

Finally, I decided I needed to unsubscribe to some of the things coming into my email inbox and stay with my favorites. I opened a blog post by Janet Perez Eckles and scrolled toward the bottom to find the unsubscribe button. Half way down the page a headline about a book review caught my attention. Writers love reviews of their books unless it's a bad one. A reviewer of one of my books wrote that, "All in all, I think this book has helped make me a better person." Eckles was sharing a review her latest book had received. The review had the word, "caution," in it. Okay, caution? Was it a bad review? I had to read it. I quote the review here:

"Caution: at first glance, the title of this book appears misleading. Simply Salsa sounds like the author, Janet Perez Eckles, is sharing tips and recipes for hosting a Cinco de Mayo party. Then you move on to the subtitle; Dancing and God's Fiesta take these hints to a cosmic level. But wait a minute; what about the phrase, without Fear? That changes the tone completely. So you go back and read the title in its entirety. "Simply Salsa: Dancing without Fear at God's Fiesta." By now, you're intrigued and maybe a little defensive. She's never faced what I've faced, you think, yet she's encouraging people to dance without fear? Really? What have you [Janet] faced?

"A challenging childhood? Janet Perez Eckles was born in Bolivia and immigrated to the United States when she was a young child. Without knowing a person in this country and not one word of English, her family had to begin again with nothing.

"Financial? The company her husband worked for went under, leaving him and two other men financially responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

"Physical challenges? At 31, Eckles went blind.

"Relational problems? Shortly after going blind, her husband announced he wanted to leave her for another woman.

"Tragedies? When her son was 19 years old, he was murdered and the man who killed him would later be acquitted.

"Any one of these would be a mountainous burden to bear; but all of them? Now, maybe you're facing other situations, but it's obvious that Janet Perez Eckles is in a position to speak on overcoming life's challenges?...The author encourages women not to stay in the trap of their own circumstances; but grasp the hand of God, stand up, let go of the past and learn not only to live, but to live joyfully."

I did not unsubscribe to Janet's blog.

Since I read the above review and then been tempted to complain, if only to myself, about anything, I remember Janet Perez Eckles. In the scheme of all things, what do I have to complain about? What about you?

"Be hospitable to one another without complaint." --1 Peter 4:9 (NAS)

You can meet Janet at her website here. While there you can subscribe for her free newsletter and her free blog.

The
winner of last Thursday's blog post for a copy of Proof by Jordyn Redwood islorlyn.I'll email you to get your mailing
address and get the book out to you. Thanks all for commenting. Watch for more
book giveaways.